


Contemplation

by GunBunnyCentral



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-12
Updated: 2012-07-12
Packaged: 2017-11-09 19:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GunBunnyCentral/pseuds/GunBunnyCentral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little MSR in the immediate aftermath of Scully's near-death in the episode Milagro...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Contemplation

He races into the apartment, heart pounding, and screams her name without answer. His heart freezes in his chest as he sees her lying there on the floor, not moving, not breathing, not anything.

Her skin is so pale, the blood so bright against it it's unreal, and her face is so calm, so still, that he's forced to consider the unthinkable - he was too late this time, she's gone beyond his help, having ignored his pleas to leave him for her own good just one time too many.

Then, suddenly, she moves, gasping for air, and he can breathe again too. He pulls her to him - he can't stop himself, the need to be sure she's really there and alive is too strong - and barely even notices that she's clinging so tightly to him that her nails are digging into his arm. He doesn't even notice or care that her sobs are just a shade louder than his own, or that the tears aren't all hers.

All that matters to him is that she's safe and alive - that she hasn't left him and taken everything important in his life with her.

He stays glued to her side at the hospital as the doctor examines her, oddly grateful for her refusal to send him away even for her exam, then drives her home after filling her prescription for a pain killer. She just smiles weakly at him as he grabs his overnight bag from the back seat before helping her out of the car - after so many years, she reads him like a favorite, familiar book and knows he'd never let her stay alone after a night like tonight.

By the time she gets showered and into her pajamas, he's made her a light supper and a cup of her favorite tea - an uncharacteristic thoughtfulness that she's almost come to take for granted from him, and somehow much more soothing to her than the food or tea alone.

It's completely characteristic of their relationship that he tucks her in without asking or being asked, and that she doesn't even stop to question it. It's even more characteristic that she doesn't feel anything but safe and comforted when he settles onto the bed beside her and just holds her - he'll be tucked away on the couch with her spare blanket come morning, all due propriety back in place, but they both know he won't move a step from her side until she's soundly asleep.

She drifts off with his voice in her ears, a slight smile on her face as she tries half-heartedly to follow the story he's making up to lull her to sleep. Tomorrow, she knows, he'll type it up as if it were an X-File, and she'll tuck it away with all the other stories he's made for her on other nights like this one.

True to expectation, he doesn't stir until her slow, even breathing tells him she's fast asleep. He's not sure how she can sleep so peacefully after such a harrowing night, but he flatters himself that she takes a certain comfort in his presence.

He manages to fight the urge to brush a stray lock of hair from her face as he watches her sleep for a moment, reminding himself that he's a trusted friend and nothing more - and, in all honesty, content to stay that way if it keeps her in his life. It stops him just short of actually wondering who Padgett meant when he said Scully was already in love - something he isn't sure he could handle thinking about right now.

It doesn't stop him, however, from smiling softly to himself as he turns out her bedroom light, not-so-idly contemplating what it might be like to wake up beside her one morning...


End file.
